"Made-It-Myself" Grain Cart

"Made-It-Myself" Grain Cart GRAIN HANDLING Wagons (63E) 27-1-16 Minnesota farmer Lyle Torstenson needed a wagon to haul grain on his farm near Dawson. But he couldn't justify the cost of a commercial-built wagon. So he made his own 8 by 12-ft., 8-ton wagon, using galvanized sheet metal off an old continuous flow grain dryer and the steering axles off a pair of Deere 95 combines. The wagon is equipped with a hoist cylinder off another wagon. It dumps out the back. "I paid $45 apiece for the axles and $40 for the hoist, which I bought used at an auction. My total cost was less than $200," says Torstenson. He connected the two combine axles with heavy steel tubing. Only the front axle actually steers. He removed the steering arm on the rear axle and fixed the wheels in place. The wagon box that he put on was one he had already made years earlier. Wood 2 by 6's act as stringers for the box with 2 by 4 cross members. A local machine shop made vertical steel ribs that reinforce the sides of the wagon. "I used the Deere 95 combine axles because they have 16-in. wheels with six-hole rims. These wheels are the same size as big pickup tires so they'll be easy to replace," notes Torstenson. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lyle Torstenson, Rt 1, Box 106A, Dawson, Minn. 56232 (ph 320 769-2295).

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